The world’s largest beer company has threatened to pullback a $2,500 sponsorship of South Boston’s famed St. Patrick’s Day Parade if organizers do not allow a group of gay war veterans to march. Anheuser-Busch InBev today said it would reconsider its support of the event after parade organizers, the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, voted 9-4 on Tuesday to exclude OUTVETS, a non-political organization dedicated to honoring the service of LGBTQ veterans.
Legislative Update: Maryland Brewers Association Teams Up with Diageo; Minnesota Lawmakers Pass Sunday Sales Bill; Mississippi Direct Taproom Sales Governor’s Signature Away From Law; Montana Bill Attempts to Raise Production Cap to 60,000 Barrels; North Carolina Brewers Attempt to Raise Cap, Run into Wholesaler Opposition.
At least six small breweries have closed or announced plans to close since last December, and at least two other companies have temporarily staved off marketplace exits during that time.
Massachusetts’ Castle Island Brewing Company has expanded its capacity for the second time in 15 months. Brewery founder and president Adam Romanow told Brewbound that increased demand for his company’s core beers — Candlepin Hoppy Session Ale and Keeper IPA — led to the installation of three new 60-barrel fermentation tanks that increased the brewery’s capacity to more than 13,000 barrels annually.
San Diego’s Coronado Brewing will expand its local presence with the purchase of a 15,000 sq. ft. building in Imperial Beach, the company announced last week. The new space — Coronado’s fourth location and its second in Imperial Beach — will include a 10-barrel brewhouse, a small distillery and a restaurant with seating for more than 300, brewery co-founder Rick Chapman told Brewbound.
Wine and marijuana are cutting into craft beer’s buzz, as growth in each of those segments took some use occasions away from a craft category that slowed to single-digit growth in 2016.
Anheuser-Busch InBev today reported full-year and fourth-quarter earnings, noting depletions declines of 2 percent in the U.S. in 2016 and continued struggles for its flagship Bud Light brand.
A pair of California consumers are alleging Craft Brew Alliance tricked them into paying more for Kona beer by marketing it as brewed in Hawaii. The 56-page complaint, filed Tuesday by the Wand Law Firm, details how Craft Brew Alliance allegedly used “false and deceptive advertising” to dupe consumers about the origin of Kona Brewing Co. beer sold in the U.S.
Legislative Update: Maryland Brewers Oppose Special Treatment for Guinness; Minnesota Moves to End Sunday Sales Ban; Virginia Legalizes Canned Beer Concession Sales
The third installment of Brewbound’s Learning Curve documentary series, which profiles winners of the bi-annual Startup Brewery Challenge, is now viewable online. Shot on location in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, this latest episode of Learning Curve follows the founders of Hopewell Brewing on their journey to Beervana and showcases some of the lessons they learned while meeting and brewing with members of the Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) team.
How do you maintain the vital culture of a craft brewery while it grows distribution and expands into new businesses? It’s a question many young breweries are forced to answer, as they struggle with balancing the spirit that builds a brand with the need for experienced leadership, the demand for increased sales, and more capacity. Night Shift Brewing is trying to figure it out right now: The Everett, Mass. brewery recently hired two C-level executives to join its team, and it’s once again looking to double production and sales. Meanwhile, the brewery is also trying to support a new wholesaling business — Night Shift Distributing — and managing a growing roster of employees.
Be Hoppy IPA is coming to Rhode Island. Worcester, Massachusetts-headquartered Wormtown Brewery announced today that it will be expanding its distribution footprint to Rhode Island as well as filling out its Massachusetts map.
